Navajo Area Uranium Mine Studies

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to remove mine waste from four former uranium mines in the Ambrosia Lake Sub-District north of Grants, McKinley County. NV5 was tasked with completing ecological and cultural resource studies over 2,300 acres, which included private, state, and federal lands.

The ecological services included surveys for rare, threatened, and endangered species, and identifying critical habitats. NV5 also installed monitoring vegetation transects, developed a vegetation map, identified and mapped wetlands, compiled wildlife data and information on ecological conditions, surveyed for raptors, and documented soil types and waterways. After fieldwork was completed and an analysis of the findings was conducted, we prepared a Natural Resources Evaluation Report that included a biological evaluation section to address potential impacts to threatened and endangered species and included recommendations to minimize impacts.

With respect to cultural resources, seven sites and 180 isolated occurrences were found and recorded. As part of the survey process, client representatives accompanied the field crew and completed Ludlum Scaler Ratemeter readings for every cultural resource found. A variety of cultural sites were recorded, including Ancestral Pueblo and historic artifact scatters, historic homesteading, and mining-related sites. Treatment recommendations were based on site eligibility, proposed activities in the area, the Ludlum Scaler Ratemeter reading, and the specific cultural resource found. NV5 worked closely with the client to determine treatment recommendations and the survey.